Myra Gale Brown

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Myra Gale Brown (born July 11, 1944) is the cousin and former wife of singer Jerry Lee Lewis. She married Lewis on December 12, 1957, at the age of 13. Brown's age and blood relationship to Lewis caused an uproar on his first tour of England and was later hyped by anti-rock and roll Christian preachers.

Myra Gale was the daughter of Jerry Lee's first cousin^[1], J.W. Brown, who was also the bass guitar player in Lewis' band. The marriage essentially destroyed Lewis' promising rock career, although he later gained acceptance within country music circles.

The couple had two children, Steve Allen Lewis (named after the entertainer), who drowned at age three, and daughter Phoebe, who now manages her father and lives at his ranch in Nesbit, Mississippi. They divorced on December 9, 1970, after 13 years of marriage. Myra later wrote, together with Murray Silver, a biography of Lewis, Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis (ISBN 0-688-01384-8). This book was originally released in October 1982 by William Morrow & Company. The book inspired a 1989 movie called Great Balls of Fire!, where Myra was portrayed by Winona Ryder. Myra is currently a real estate agent near Atlanta, Georgia.